Wrens (Troglodytidae)

Grey-breasted Wood-wren (Henicorhina leucophrys) - HBW 10, p. 441

French: Troglodyte à poitrine grise German: Einsiedlerzaunkönig Spanish: Cucarachero Pechigrís
Other common names: Highland Wood-wren

Taxonomy: Troglodytes leucophrys Tschudi, 1844, Montaña del Vitoc, Junín, Peru.
Has been thought to form a superspecies with H. leucosticta, but geographical and altitudinal overlap too extensive to justify such treatment. Possibly involves more than one species; bangsi and anachoreta are separated altitudinally in Santa Marta massif (N Colombia), and brunneiceps appears to have different song type from neighbouring races. Race composita perhaps not distinguishable from castanea. Eighteen subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

mexicana Nelson, 1897 - E Mexico (SE San Luis Potosí S to N Oaxaca).
minuscula A. R. Phillips, 1966 - W Mexico (SW Jalisco and Michoacán E to W México).
festiva Nelson, 1903 - SW Mexico from Michoacán S to Guerrero.

See all 18 subspecies

mexicana Nelson, 1897 - E Mexico (SE San Luis Potosí S to N Oaxaca).
minuscula A. R. Phillips, 1966 - W Mexico (SW Jalisco and Michoacán E to W México).
festiva Nelson, 1903 - SW Mexico from Michoacán S to Guerrero.
capitalis Nelson, 1897 - S Mexico (Veracruz and Puebla S to Oaxaca) and W Guatemala.
castanea Ridgway, 1903 - Atlantic slope of Guatemala.
composita Griscom, 1932 - N El Salvador, SC highlands of Honduras and adjacent NW Nicaragua.
collina Bangs, 1902 - C Costa Rica S to E Panama.
bangsi Ridgway, 1903 - Santa Marta Mts (below 2000 m), in N Colombia.
anachoreta Bangs, 1899 - upper levels of Santa Marta (2000-4000 m).
manastarae Aveledo & Ginés, 1952 - Perijá Mts, on N Colombia-Venezuela border.
sanluisensis Phelps, Sr & Phelps, Jr, 1959 - Sierra de San Luis, in C Falcón (NW Venezuela).
venezuelensis Hellmayr, 1903 - N Andes and coastal mountains of Venezuela (Lara, Yaracuy, and Carabobo E to Miranda).
meridana Todd, 1932 - Venezuelan Andes (Trujillo S to N Táchira).
tamae J. T. Zimmer & Phelps, Sr, 1944 - E Andes of SW Venezuela (SW Táchira) and E slope in Colombia.
brunneiceps Chapman, 1914 - W Colombia and NW Ecuador.
leucophrys (Tschudi, 1844) - subtropical zone in Colombia (E slope of W Andes E to W slope of E cordillera), Ecuador (except NW & SW) and Peru.
hilaris Berlepsch & Taczanowski, 1884 - subtropical zone of SW Ecuador.
boliviana Todd, 1932 - W Bolivia (La Paz, Cochabamba).